Michael McCaslin is wary of investing his retirement funds in Wall Street. Its volatility and cryptic trading techniques make him feel lost and unsafe, he says.

“I tried to watch the market over the past couple of years, and you’re just lost. I look at the market now and it’s like Las Vegas, it’s a gamble,” the 65-year-old pensioner said.

Like most Americans, McCaslin has his retirement saving plan, known as a 401k, invested in stocks. Most of his funds are handled by an investor, but he manages 10 percent of the money himself from his home in Greenville, Texas.

Yet the extreme instability that has characterized the markets since the 2008 financial meltdown, often blamed on highly speculative trading, and the increased use of super-fast automated trading systems make Wall Street a tough environment for small investors.